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What Do You Know About Eclampsia?

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It is often prayed that ev
ery pregnant woman remains healthy to reproduce a healthy child as well. But some times, some pregnant women are found encountering convulsions. This is worse in women already with an established case of high blood pressure which of course is often followed by coma. This health challenging situation in pregnancy, posses a serious threat to the health of mother and baby and so must be guided against.
Experts call this condition in which one or more convulsion occur in pregnant women suffering from high blood pressure, which is often followed by coma, eclampsia.
Eclampsia does not just happen, it starts with warning signs called pre-eclampsia. Formerly called toxemia, pre-eclampsia is a condition that develops in pregnancy, usually marked by high blood pressure in women who have not previously experienced high Blood Pressure. Women who find themselves in this condition usually have high level of protein in their urine as well as swollen legs, feet and hands. It is most common in late pregnancy, usually after 20weeks mark.
According to expert reports, pre-eclampsia, when not detected earlier, metamorphoses to full blown eclampsia, .
Regrettably, there seems to be no cure for pre-eclampsia, a fact that tends to get moms-to- be agitated. However, acquainting oneself with the symptoms and by seeking medical advice regularly on prenatal care, one stands a chance to be protected and even in the event of early detection, easy management is assured.
The reason why regular medical attention should be sought is based on grounds of naivity. Preeclampsia is said to be common among first time pregnancies, in pregnant teens, and in women above 40 years, who may not have had any known case of high blood pressure.
Others risk factors include: A history of high blood pressure prior to pregnancy. A history of obesity, having mother or a more serious halth condition that can put victims and their babies at risk sister who had eclampsia etc.
Eclampsia is therefore an acute and life-threatening complication of pregnancy characterized by the appearance of tonic-clonic seizures, usually in a patient who had developed pre-eclampsia.
Eclampsia includes seizures and coma that happen during pregnancy, but are not due to pre-existing or organic brain disorders.
Typically, patients show signs of pregnancy-induced hypertension and proteinuria before the onset of the hallmark of eclampsia; the eclamptic convulsion. Other cerebral signs may precede the convulsion such as nausea, vomiting, headaches, and cortical blindness.
Other organ symptoms may also be noticed, ranging from abdominal pain, liver failure, to pulmonary edema and oliguria. The fetus may already have been compromised by intrauterine growth retardation, and with the toxemic changes during elampsia may suffer fetal distress, placental bleeding and placental abruption may occur.
An eclamptic event could feature four stage. In the state of invasion, facial twitching can be observed around the mouth.
The stage of contraction, tonic contraction or sustained muscular contractions without intervals of relaxation, render the body rigid. This stage may last about 15 to 20 seconds.
The next is the stage of convulsion when involuntary and forceful muscular movements occur, the tongue may be bitten, foam appears at the mouth, the patient stops breathing and becomes cyanotic; this stage lasts about one minute.
The final stage is a more or less prolonged coma. When the patient awakens, she is unlikely to remember the event, in some rare cases, there are no convulsion and the patient falls directly into a coma. Some may experience temporary blindness upon waking from coma.
During a seizure, the fetus may experience bradycardia.
Eclampsia, like pre-eclampsia tends to occur more commonly in first pregnancies and young mothers where it is thought that novel exposure to paternal antigens is involved.
Women with pre-existing vascular diseases, (hypertension, diabetes, and nephropathy) or thrombophilic diseases are at higher risk to develop pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. Having a large placenta (Multiple gestation, hydatidi form mole) also predisposes women to toxemia.
It is important to mention that patients whose mother or sister had the condition are at higher risk. Patients who have experienced eclampsia are at increased risk for preeclampsia / eclampsia in a later pregnancy.
Pulmonary edema is a rather common complication of severe eclampsia affecting approximately 3% of patients. Most cases result in aggressive use of crystalloid solutions for intravascular volume expansion.
While multiple theories have been proposed to explain pre-eclampsia, and eclampsia, it occurs only in the presence of a placenta and is resolved by its removal.
Placental hypoperfusion is a key feature of the process, accompanied by increased sensitivity of the maternal vasculature to pressor agents leading to vasospasm and hypoperfusion of multiple organs.
An activation of the coagulation cascade leads to microthrombi formation and aggravate the perfusion problem. Loss of plasma from the vascular tree with the resulting edema additionally compromises the situation. These events lead to signs and symptoms of toxemia including hypertension, renal, pulmonary and hepatic dysfunction.
Detection and management of pre-eclampsia is critical to reducing the risk of eclampsia. Appropriate management of patents with pre-eclampsia generally involves the use of magnesium sulphate as an agent to prevent convulsions and thus preventing eclampsia
The treatment of eclampsia requires prompt intervention and aims to prevent further convulsion, control the elevated blood pressure and immediately terminate the pregnancy by delivery of the baby if possible.

 

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi

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The Desire Of Every Woman In Marriage

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A woman needs a man that is honest,  trustworthy,  nice,  loving and financially stable.
There are no two ways about finance in marriage. No matter the level of love, If there is no money,  it is always difficult.


Referring to the Biblical belief in Genesis 3:Your desire  shall be unto you……..
That is one aspect  the woman expects her husband to take care of.
A woman wants a husband that is not lazy,  at least helping to do one or two things.   A man that is educated and intelligent.
She knows that there is a trait that her husband has.  Traits of taking care of people,  giving freely to people and caring for her family.
A woman wants to love a husband that has family interest at heart. A man that spends time with his family,  remembering his family even as he is away from home.
A woman should not antagonise her husband because of one error or the other. No matter the level of offence he may have committed, you still show some love.


According to the Scripture, it is with wisdom that the women builds her home.
It is not as if the woman will not monitor her husband, but to certain limit.  Don’t be a monitoring spirit.  Don’t allow anything to take your joy.
Don’t loose trust in your husband.
The idea of checking your husband’s phone should be discouraged. The more you check your husband and his phone, the more you loose your joy.


The home should not be a battle ground for a woman and man.  A woman should be able to ask herself if the check on her husband will pay her any good.
Draw a line to a point where you checkmate your husband’s activities.
A woman wants a man that will love her and telling her you love her will be all she desires.

Eunice Choko-Kayode

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What Women Want In Yet-To -Be Husbands

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What women want in their yet-to- be husbands matters a lot as far as marriage is concerned.
A woman desires a good fnancial prospect. Interestingly, some modern women place a man’s financial potential as more desirable than they have in the past.
Many decades ago, women ranked it lower on the list. It still comes in after items like love and maturity, but perhaps today’s women realise that a good economic partner is good husband material.
Good health has been an important characteristic for women through the 20th century and remains so these days. One might argue that because we’re living even longer, health plays a huge role in the success of a marriage. Women are anxious to know that their partners are healthy to be able to run the family together.
You discover that in most faith based organisations, would- be couples are mandated to go for medical tests to ascertain their health status as it concerns HIV/AIDS, Genotype and other related ones. This according to stakeholders is to ensure that couples raise healthy families.
Ambition has become less important to women over time, though it still being considered even if women nowadays are thriving in the workforce competing with the male folk. It may be because more women are thriving in the workforce, they want a husband who has earning power but are not looking for him to be the sole provider.
More women want husbands with pleasing disposition. They may not want a man who is always moody. A man who is always cheerful is whom they desire.
Surprisingly, a man’s likes do not rank as high on women’s list of wants as it used to. Until recently, women are more willing to accept a man for who he his, despite the inevitable mood he may be.
Sociability from both men and women rank very high on their marriag material list. And for both sexes, it has been steadily moving up the list for many years. The rise of the “love marriage,” a partnership based on attraction rather than practicalities (like wealth or status) might mean that married couples are more likely to be friends and have mutual circles of friends.
A lot of couples want to associate with others and then socialise. Attending parties of other friends forms part of their marriage requirements.
Women have placed education and intelligence top making it one of their most desirable male traits for decades. This timeline coincides with more and more women receiving college education themselves. Once education becomes important in women’s lives, it is a more attractive trait in potential husbands.
Of course when a woman is educated, she is likely to go for an educated man. When they are gainfully employed, their income boost the family affairs faster.
Today, women are much more attracted to men who are interested in home and family than they ever have been. Men who have desire for their home and children is whom they desire.
After a days job, a man will come home to ensure that his children are comfortable. Because most women today are expecting to be in dual-earner relationships, they want husbands who will be happy and willing to contribute at home. More women today even report that they hope he will take the lead at home.
A woman wants a man who is emotionally stable and mature. Growing big physically is not the issue but maturity in the heart.
Men, too, place a heavy emphasis on a potential wife’s emotional maturity, signaling that it is a key quality for a stable partnership. Women seem to look past appearance to the heart of the matter.
A woman wants a man who is not easily provoked. Dependable character is what some women want in marriage.
Women want husbands that they can count on, and this has not changed in recent years. Yes, women look to their spouses to be lovers and friends, they also want them to be supportive and trustworthy. They want to know that their husbands will be there and remain loyal. Men, too, desire dependable character from their yet-to be wives.
Mutual attraction and love from the first appearance is what they want till they become old.
The highest-rated characteristic women seek from men is mutual attraction and love. Some no longer look for a man who will provide everything, afterall they are also educated and are gainfully employed, they want to be in love.
For some women, even when the man do not provide household needs, the love shown on her is enough. When women had no job prospects and needed to marry, they desired love . The women’s movement has not only helped women pursue careers, it has also given them more choice in love.

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Echoes Of IWD : Need To Invest In Women

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As this year’s Internatinal Women’s Day (IWD) has come and gone, there are calls from different quarters on the need to invest in women so that we can achieve accelerated growth.
It was, indeed, a thing of joy when Rivers Women Unite For Sim, took delivery of large quantities of sanitary towels and some bags of rice provided them for this year’s celebration.
Many young women expressed joy that they got such gesture since some of them have financial problems getting sanitary towels whenever they are on.
Some secondary school students were also lucky to have a share of the benefits. They also got some sanitary towels.
The Rivers State Commissioner for Women Affairs organised a platform to celebrate and honour the women for the remarkable jobs they perform in their homes and society.
Addressing women on the occasion, the Hon. Commissioner for Women Affairs, Dr. Roseline Apawari Uranta, noted that women from time immemorial have been great pillars in achieving remarkable heights and stressed that IWD across the globe is pivotal all women for the roles they play in bringing, nurturing and sustaining life.
Dr. Uranta said that IWD, which started in 1911 and celebrated annually on March 8, is a global day that provides women a platform to address economic inclusion, participation in political and public life.
She said the day was set aside to look into lack of access to education for the girl-child, gender-based violence, child marriage, child trafficking, harmful cultural practices as well as other challenges facing women around the globe.
The Hon. Commissioner, who described March 8 as a day to celebrate the socio-economic, cultural and political achievements of women, emphasised that it is a day that offers women the opportunity to reflect on progressive achievements.
Noting that it is an opportunity to call for change, she stressed that it is also an opportunity to celebrate acts of courage and every achievement made by ordinary women who did extraordinary things and are remembered in history.
She noted that the IWD2024 theme:”Invest In Women, Accelerate Progress”, is timely and apt because according to her, to achieve gender equality, we must ensure that the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women do not elude them.
Her words: ” We must see investing in women as a human right issue and consider investing in women as a social tool to eradicate poverty since women are helpmeet in the homes while a handful are breadwinners in their respective families”.
The commissioner urged women to uphold the deliberate act of investing in themselves, be it furthering formal education, developing a new skill as well as learning a trade.
“Shun idleness, always find something positive and productive to do, regardless of your age, social status and financial capabilities”, she said.
In a paper presentation, Dr. Dabota God’swill Jumbo, reiterated that investing in women would attract good and positive dividends to herself and the society at large and noted that it is essential in addressing poverty, hunger and climate change.
The guest speaker said women need more opportunities in elective and appointive positions, hence the need to encourage and support them in politics.
According to her, when you invest in women, they will be able to create safer environment devoid of gender-based violence.
In a goodwill message, the spokesperson, Rivers Women Unite For Sim, Mrs Charity Deemua appreciated the organisers for making it possible for women to gather and celebrate themselves.
She commended those who created a day like March 8 of every year to celebrate women and regretted that the girl-child was seen as a second-class person decades ago.
The former commissioner, Rivers State House of Assembly Commission, described those who taught it wise for women to celebrate as conquerors, tough and strong.
International Association of World Peace Advocates, a world-class organisation with the United Nations, honoured different categories of women.
In Cross River State, 150 women were empowered with about N15m to boost their small and medium scale businesses.
According to stakeholders, the women empowerment is vital in addressing social, economic and political challenges and will make them self-reliant.
An NGO, Association of Professional Women Engineering Technologists (APWET), said it’s aim is to promote professional excellence among engineering personnel, advocating for women and girl-child education.
With what we saw in terms of response to women’s call on issues affecting them from relevant authorities, we are optimistic that the women will do better whenever they are empowered.
If we must kick out cervical, breast and other forms of cancer in women, underage marriage, prostitution, we must invest in women.
There were goodwill messages from National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), International Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA), Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC, Nigeria Association of Female Journalists (NAWOJ), among others.

By: Eunice Choko-Kayode

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